ATSC 3.0 Nextgen OTA TV was billed as one of the most exciting things to happen to cord cutting. The idea of free over-the-air on-demand TV, 4K, with even more channels was thought to bring millions back to over-the-air TV.
Instead, the roll out has been frustrating to viewers who find it difficult to get TVs with supported tuners or being forced to buy expensive external tuners with limited options.
Now a set of lawsuits over patent issues related to the tuners has come about. At issue here is a company who won a lawsuit against LG over its use of technology in its tuners to receive ATSC 3.0. It’s being forced to pay fines and pay for each TV it sells with ATSC 3.0 in it.
Because of that lawsuit, LG has stopped selling TVs with ATSC 3.0 built in. Other TV manufacturers have also cut back on how many TVs they are building with ATSC 3.0.
Pearl, a group that has helped push ATSC 3.0 forward, has filed a supportive document in the case where it says that if this patent issue is not resolved the future of the ATSC 3.0 roll out is at risk of failing. Pearl, in the filing, says other TV manufacturers will back out of the change putting the roll out at risk of failing.
With many customers very unhappy about ATSC 3.0, and now these patent issues causing massive issues for the rollout, it is not looking good.
There is some hope that the FCC will force companies into a patent pool to protect TV manufacturers that include ATSC 3.0 in their TVs. The issue is that it would give the FCC more control over the FTC 3.0.
For now, the future of ATSC 3.0 is hanging on how this court case with LG over ATSC 3.0 goes.
Credit to The Antenna Man for bringing this court filing to our attention.